A open letter to the Ubuntu community re: Automatix

[ubuntu_demon]

Hi,

I would like to bring this thread to your atttention :

CommonCustomizations - feedback request
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=206535

It's about this specification for Edgy :
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommonCustomizations

[enyaw]

No one has actually explained what's wrong with my pasta analogy..

Because your cooker doesn't produce a spaghetti which is "al dente."

aysiu...thank you...I love this...Hee!

[Fiyawerx]

installing extra codecs is not nearly as difficult as installing car parts...

Depends on who you ask on that one

[aysiu]

Well, of course. If you ask the right person, you can get her to say that reading a column in a newspaper is more difficult than starting a fire with two rocks and one stick... maybe an illiterate girl scout.

From an empirical standpoint, clicking a few things with the mouse is easier to do as a task than installing a new timing belt.

Naturally, if you're a car mechanic who hates computers, you'll think the latter is easier. If you're a computer science major who rides only bicycles, then you'll think the former is easier.

I'm talking about for someone who's not intitiated in either task. And, if you mess up installing codecs, the worst that could happen is you get some error that you can't play back some media file. If you mess up installing a car part, your car could explode and kill you and nearby pedestrians.

[prizrak]

Well, of course. If you ask the right person, you can get her to say that reading a column in a newspaper is more difficult than starting a fire with two rocks and one stick... maybe an illiterate girl scout.

From an empirical standpoint, clicking a few things with the mouse is easier to do as a task than installing a new timing belt.

Naturally, if you're a car mechanic who hates computers, you'll think the latter is easier. If you're a computer science major who rides only bicycles, then you'll think the former is easier.

I'm talking about for someone who's not intitiated in either task. And, if you mess up installing codecs, the worst that could happen is you get some error that you can't play back some media file. If you mess up installing a car part, your car could explode and kill you and nearby pedestrians.

Installing a timing belt is rediculously easy. I would rate it as about the same as installing codecs I think that is a very fitting analogy as people who do not have interest in working on their cars go to mechanics and have no complain whatsoever about it needing specialized knowledge. On computers however for some reason people expect to know all the under the hood stuff without taking the time to learn. I agree that USING a computer should be as easy as driving a car (which still requires learning) but to expect to be versed in under the hood things w/o any learning.

[aysiu]

I beg to differ on that.

Installing codecs:
http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php/Installation

Changing a timing belt:
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...a051102a_2.htm
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...a051102a_3.htm

[prizrak]

I beg to differ on that.

Installing codecs:
http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php/Installation

Changing a timing belt:
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...a051102a_2.htm
http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doity...a051102a_3.htm

I guess being both a motor head and a Linux geek I have no right to say which one would be easier

[aysiu]

I'll change an air filter. Now that's certainly easier than installing codecs!

[prizrak]

I'll change an air filter. Now that's certainly easier than installing codecs!

Not on my Buick (the damn thing is by the front wheel down there somewhere).

[kurniawands]

hmmm.... think it's getting hot here....

as a newbie, i'll be glad if i can get answers on "newbie's" language. no this this this or that that that... kinda confusing for me, mostly when it's my first linux experience.

so, i think we must let newbies understand that linux (any distro) is about "a world of choices". many choices and many you can have.

once they have it in their mind, i don't think that these automatix,easyubuntu,bumps,aptitude thing should become a problem. they'll find which one makes them comfortable with...

on my first dapper (and linux! can you believe it?) experience (been 3 weeks now), i give easyubuntu a shot (because there is ubuntu in it's name, hahahah...), now, automatix, i haven't try bumps yet, but i still wondering why aptitude is much more comfortable for me and use automatix for something i don't know yet to find it's "terminal code".... cause it makes me "learn" and i love to learn

btw, aysiu..... what is mephis and what you mean by "installing code "out of box"" ?????